A persuasive image.
The advertising of cars has from the very beginning been both beguiling and dishonest. They try to convince the potential buyer that this product is the best, the most coveted and sexiest car in the whole world and that the ownership of it will bestow special status and, possibly, mystical powers. What is not mentioned is the nose diving depreciation on a new car; the fact it was likely built in a factory riven by disputes and poor management practice, or that due to the likely poor reliability the free AA membership is not just a option but a necessity.
This is amply illustrated by the first of my examples, an advert from the 1990s for a Range Rover.
The car is parked in a rugged landscape which appears to be the USA with oil drilling towers on a distant plain. The caption hints at the driver of this vehicle owning the oil field. This car can only be enjoyed by men who have made a success of their lives. Men in charge. Men in control.
If the image were a true one then the owner of the car is broke. The drilling towers have no additional machinery and there is no sign of either pumping or piping. This is the site of an abandoned oil field. It is more likely the the poor man has driven out to this desolate place to shoot himself.
The landscape looks like a composite of an English landfill, a mismatched mid ground section, added background mountains and some clumsily drawn and out of perspective oil derricks.
The next is a VW advert with a Andalusian like landscape. The car is as hard and sharp as the surrounding hill sides, the handling equal to the winding road with the driver looking cool and mysterious behind the smoked glass.
The landscape in the image works well and conveys its message, this is a car made for adventure and excitement.
On the critical side the photography is less than perfect. The shadows are all over the place, falling in one direction off the white road marker and in another off the car. The cloudy sky seems to have the sun illuminating it from a point behind the hill so the presence of any shadow is a bit of a mystery. The reflection in the side of the car bear only a passing similarity to what is there. There is a certain randomness to the blurring of the scenery with a lot to the right and little to the left.
At first glance the image is a good one and I doubt that anyone who was swayed by it and bought the car even noticed the errors.
The last one is of a different order with what looks like real a landscape doctored to add a message about the car. The image is of an anonymous salt flat, which itself is a metaphor for speed, with two twisters approaching from the mountainous region at the back. The addition of the twisters adds a feeling of threat and danger and also alludes to the twin turbo chargers with which this, already powerful car, is fitted. The low angle works well giving the car a feeling of superiority, presence and masculinity. This image is about latency and the promise of what will be available when you turn the key.
Car adverts are all about image as most buyers are little interested in much else but this, the colour, a decent warrantee and the price. How else are cars to be sold except by their image?
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